Posted on 02/03/2009 9:21:51 AM PST by COUNTrecount
The climate is warm, there's no shortage of exotic food, and the cost of living is rock bottom. That's IBM (NYSE: IBM)'s pitch to the laid-off American workers it's offering to place in India. The catch: Wages in the country are pennies-on-the-dollar compared to U.S. salaries. Under a program called Project Match, IBM will help workers laid off from domestic sites obtain travel and visa assistance for countries in which Big Blue has openings. Mostly that's developing markets like India, China, and Brazil.
His challenge? Creating open environment for Internet users without compromising information security and privacy."IBM has established Project Match to help you locate potential job opportunities in growth markets where your skills are in demand," IBM says in an internal notice on the initiative. "Should you accept a position in one of these countries, IBM offers financial assistance to offset moving costs, provides immigration support, such as visa assistance, and other support to help ease the transition of an international move." The document states that the program is limited to "satisfactory performers who have been notified of separation from IBM U.S. or Canada and are willing to work on local terms and conditions." The latter indicates that workers will be paid according to prevailing norms in the countries to which they relocate. In many cases, that could be substantially less than what they earned in North America.
IBM has laid off more than 4,000 workers in the United States since the beginning of January, according to an employee group. The company has confirmed layoffs but won't comment on specific numbers.
A spokesman for Alliance@IBM, a workers' group that's affiliated with the Communications Workers of America but which does not have official union status at IBM, slammed the program. "IBM is not only offshoring IBM U.S. jobs but they want employees to offshore themselves through Project Match," said the spokesman.
An IBM spokesman said the program shouldn't be seen in that light. "It's more of a vehicle for people who want to expand their life experience by working somewhere else," said the spokesman. "A lot of people want to work in India."
In addition to India, China, and Brazil, IBM is offering to relocate redundant U.S. workers to a number of other developing markets, including Mexico, the Czech Republic, Russia, South Africa, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates, according to the notice, which was obtained Monday by InformationWeek
i think that either way we are in for a rough ride the next few years....
If I had that option and wasn’t married and tied down to a house, I’d love to relocate for a while to the Czech Republic. I’m half-Czech (from Dad) and I have relatives and family history there. I think it would be quite exciting.
Especially if you like beer, or as said in Czech: pivo. Pilsen, Czech Republic is where the pilsner beer was invented if memory serves.
I've been intrigued recently with the Vysoke Tatry region of Slovakia.
It has always been an equal opportunity Nation.
By in large, Americans were pretty peaceful about surrendering their livelihoods to foreigners. By in large, Indians riot.
The statistics get skewed once the Civil War and the population figures are taken into account.
“Mostly that’s developing markets like India, China, and Brazil. “
I’ll volunteer for Brazil duty.
Nothing wrong with that. Lots of companies have assistance programs that involve sign on times. If the company is going to pay to move you somewhere, or pay to teach you something, there’s no reason for them not to make sure they’ll get their money’s worth. They aren’t paying for these things for fun, they’re in it for the money.
This "relocation assistance" is basically the severance package IBM avoided paying because the employee was nutty enough to relocate to India on IBM's terms. The question of whether to take the relocation package or severance package is an IQ test. If the employee takes the relocation package (instead of the severance package), then he really is dumb enough to be working for IBM on local terms in India.
Maybe, maybe not. I’ve seen plenty of relocation packages that include the trip back and continued employment if you stay through the agreed time period.
Didn’t know that. I use Hindus as shorthand whenever discusing Indians from India so not to confuse those who might think I am talking about American Indians.
My apologies to Christian Indians...
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